An effective About page does one job well: it tells visitors who you serve and why you’re credible enough to trust, in language they understand within seconds. The fastest way to start is writing a single positioning sentence that states exactly that, before you touch layout or design. Once you have that sentence, the checklist, structure and legal checks below will carry you the rest of the way.
TL;DR:
- A single clear positioning sentence at the top helps maintain focus and guides the entire About page structure.
- Placing benefits and proof of credibility immediately after the main claim increases visitor trust swiftly.
- Including genuine testimonials and specific, provable claims is necessary to avoid misleading advertising risks and legal penalties.
- Using natural language, short sentences, and accessible formatting enhances readability, SEO, and compliance.
- Crafting a tailored, actionable call-to-action aligned with visitor expectations drives better engagement and conversions.
Before you write a word of flowing copy, run through this list. It covers the structural pieces that separate a page people trust from one they skim past.
This approach lines up with government guidance on business websites, which recommends simple words, short sentences and subheadings, alongside mission, history and contact details as the core content an About page should carry.
Pro Tip: Write your one-line position statement on its own first. If you can’t say what you do and for whom in one sentence, your whole page will struggle to find focus.
Order matters as much as wording. A reader scanning for thirty seconds needs the big claim first and the proof close behind it.
A single-founder business usually reads better with a short personal story than a team grid. A business with several client-facing staff benefits from a small team section with names and roles, placed after the story rather than at the top, so the business case comes first. Keep testimonials near the proof section, and keep contact details visible rather than only in the footer. Every headline and button should say what happens next in plain words, “Book a free chat” beats “Learn more” because it tells the reader exactly what they’re clicking into.
Drafting an About page in one sitting rarely works. Break it into passes and you’ll finish faster with fewer rewrites.
Keep a simple folder of evidence behind any claim or testimonial you publish, screenshots, emails, or signed permission. It takes minutes now and saves a headache later.
Your About page can work for search without reading like it was written for a robot.
Stuffing keywords into every sentence does the opposite of what you want. Search engines and readers both notice when a page reads unnaturally, and both reward clarity over repetition.
This is the part most small business owners skip, and it’s the part that carries real risk if you get it wrong—understanding cookie consent in Australia is vital for compliance and trust.
The ACCC has taken enforcement action over misleading online customer reviews, including a case where a business was ordered to pay a significant penalty amounting to several hundred thousand dollars in penalties. The ACCC’s own guidance on false or misleading claims confirms that businesses must be able to prove any claim they publish, with reasonable grounds behind it, not just good intentions. For images and written content you didn’t create yourself, IP Australia’s guidance on avoiding infringement is worth a read before you publish anything borrowed.
Sometimes the fastest way to unstick a blank page is a template you can reshape into your own voice.
The pattern above isn’t guesswork. It reflects what government guidance on business websites recommends for content and readability, paired with the legal boundaries the ACCC enforces around testimonials and claims. Our workshops walk small business owners through exactly this kind of page, phase by phase, pairing mentorship with templates so the writing and legal checks happen together instead of as an afterthought. A simple experiment worth running: change your headline to a who-plus-benefit pattern, leave it two weeks, and watch whether enquiries shift.
We built our Compelling Homepage Copy Workshop and messaging sessions because most small business owners don’t need another article, they need someone walking through their actual page with them. Our workshops pair practical exercises with templates and direct feedback, so you leave with copy you can publish, not just notes.
Check availability and book a session through our workshops page when you’re ready to write the version of your About page that actually converts.
Yes. Clear, provable copy remains one of the few things a small business fully controls, and government guidance still points to plain language and readability as core to a trustworthy website. The tools around writing have changed, but the need for honest, specific copy that reads well hasn’t.
Cover who you help, your one-line position statement, two or three benefit-focused sentences, a short credibility signal, your mission in plain language, and a clear contact or call-to-action. Business.gov.au guidance recommends including mission, history and contact information as the baseline.
Definitions vary across sources, but a common version covers being clear, concise, compelling, credible and customer-focused. For an About page specifically, clarity and credibility matter most, since readers are deciding in seconds whether to trust you.
Applied to an About page, that means leading with benefits before background.
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